Thursday, October 27, 2011

My First Yard Banner

In our new house here, we have a Lamppost with a bar in the middle of the post.  I am not sure exactly what it's for .. whether it be a banner or a hanging pot or something, but it's only 10" wide and so typical Yard Banners in stores would not fit.  So, I took some rip-stop nylon that I had on hand, and made up this winter banner.

What do you think?

One of Four .... Pumpkins that is.

Well, I decided last night after supper that I should carve at least one of the pumpkins we had purchased a couple of weeks ago.  Of course, I was all alone in this endeavor because nobody else wanted to carve a pumpkin.  I live with a bunch of party-poopers!

Anyway .. I carved my pumpkin.  I would have done another pumpkin, but my hand and wrist were sore from just this one, so maybe I'll do the others tonight or this weekend or something.  Here's the photos .. but in the light and in the dark.

 

 
What do you think ?  Does it look like an owl?  Both carvings are on the same pumpkin.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Muzzy Online Giveaway

A member of our homeschool group is giving away a year of Muzzy Online which is a language program for kids.

You can read more about it here:  (just scroll down a little)
http://veganhomeschool.com/

It ends today .. so hurry over!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Why a Boy and a Cat take a long time to fold sheets.

Video says it all.

Bonus:

Special Olympic Scarves

Just a couple quick pictures for you as I need to run out the door! :)

A Crochet project I finished on the road this weekend ... for the animal shelter or for a baby or something .. not sure yet.


The following picture is scarves my mom made.  She's made a total of 4 now.

This is the start of my Number 11 scarf.  It's slow going with the split / cable in the middle.
And here is a scarf from my homeschool group - a girl FH made this one.
She made up this pattern by herself .. I think she did a great job on it! :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Sewing Mending and Basketry

Well, I've been fairly busy this last week or so, doing everything and nothing at all. Do you ever feel that way?  I'm always doing something, and the time goes by, but I don't seem to get other things done.  like cleaning, it doesn't get done very often around here, I'm just not very good housekeeper.  We aren't swimming through garbage or anything, we keep things fairly well picked up .. trash goes out, as does the recycling ... however the dusting and vacuuming doesn't get done often.  Ah well, I never said I was perfect.

One thing I did do this past week or so was to make some of our ratty fraying wash cloths look a little bit nicer. "Neater" anyway.  No more frayed edges.

 I left one 'undone' so that you could see the difference. It feels a little weird to have the bound edge, but atleast the cloths will last longer and we don't have strings hanging off of them.

I saw a few birds the other day as well ... here's a few pictures.
European Starling
 
I think the one on the left is a female House Sparrow.


Also saw this pair of White Crowned Sparrows.  First time I've seen these!  Ever!  Aren't they nice ? 

This past weekend I went to a Women's Expo at Southside Alliance Church in Sheboygan.  It was a smaller affair than I'm used to, but it was very nice.  I attended two small workshops in addition to the main speaker, and learned about Legacy of Clean 'green' cleaning products, and learned how to make this basket.

Isn't it cute!?

I absolutely loved making the basket.  I think I may order some reed and make more baskets.  It was pretty cool! :)  I searched online and found these places that seem like good suppliers.

http://www.noresta.com/  - in Michigan, but there is no minimum to get the wholesale prices.

http://www.gratiotlakebasketry.com/ - in Michigan as well - similar to Noresta in prices

http://www.easttroybasketry.com/catalog/ - in WI.  Actually only about an hour or so away from where I'm living now, but their online prices are slightly more than the other two places.  However, they do offer classes.  So it's a good place to know about.

So .. what do you think?

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Monday, October 3, 2011

Christmas - "Inspired Ideas"

Here's a really neat magazine with tons of great ideas for crafters.

Crochet Hats & Peaches

Okay, so I'm trying to catch up, and you get 3 new posts in one day! :) lol.

Here are a couple of hats I knit with this pattern and some small balls of yarn that I got from freecycle.


Have you ever seen Peaches in a Box? :)
 I also found this really neat crochet stitch called the Crocodile Stitch in one of the emails I get every day.  It's really neat.  Ravelry has several patterns for using this stitch, both free and for purchase.  I started with this hat pattern and using more of the yarn I got from freecycle.  It's Red Heart yarn this time.  I used up almost 100 grams of the tan,and then I used some turquise that was in the bag.  Still looks like a strawberry or pineapple! :) 
Neither Seth nor Joel would try any of these hats on.  Rob was a good sport and tried them on, but I didn't get a picture of him wearing them.  I do like the style of the top two hats for Rob.  It fits him much better than the standard style.  The extra bit at the sides and back will cover his ears and neck nicely without falling over his eyes. The pink one will probably be mine for shoveling snow, and the blue one for Rob. The crocodile stitch hat may be given to charity or sold.  If you'd like it, make me an offer! :)

Do you see Peaches in the background ? :)

Freaky Rain Showers and Rainbows

The other day we had been having several days of rainy and gloomy weather.  Then we had a day of what seemed like a day of sun.  However, it was kind of freaky.  The sun would come out, and I'd open the windows, and then all of a sudden it was raining!  These little rain showers would never last very long, and they weren't very big, but it was interesting.

One of these rain showers came by, and Joel noticed that there was a rainbow!  Actually, it was a double rainbow.

The colors were so bright and deep and gorgeous!  It was truly a blessing from God to be able to see something so beautiful. 

Here is a short video so you can see the full single rainbow as the cloud was moving away. 

Special Olympic Scarf 9 & 10

Well, I'm about to update you on my latest scarves I've made.  #10 was finished just last night.

Here is scarf #9.
 Scarf #9 is knit mostly in red, with two bands of blue. Every 10 rows of knitting I would insert a row of k2, *k2tog, yo* until the last two k2.

Scarf #10 is below and is crocheted lengthwise.  I did a wavy pattern of dc's and instead of trying to figure out how to make the ends straight, I let them angle off and increase a dc each time I turned.  I like the way it turned out.

How are you coming along with your Special Olympic Scarves?